The Press., 1887-10-27
MYSTERIOUS POISONS.
THE DEADLY RESULTS OF DEcoM. POSITION IN ANIMAL TISSUES.

as Ptomaines-what They Are, How
 They OrIginato-ProbabilIty That They
 Frequently Cause Death.
 Among the investigations aud discover les of modern science there Is perhaps no subject of more interest or far reaching importance, in a general us well as in n medico-legal sense, than that of ptomaines, or that series of newly discovered poisons -cadaveric alxaloids-which are evolved from the decomposition of animal tissue. Francesca Selmi, of Boulogne, in 1SS0- who was perhaps the first to discover, or at least to publish an intelligent account of these poisons-applied to them the term 'ptomaine," as indicating that they were of cadaveric origin, f. O., arising from the decomposition or putrescence of animal tissues. More re- cent investigations, however, seem to prove that they may also be developed as result of normal tissue change in the living animal, or even from the dejecta or excretions of the living organism. The attention of the studious public hns been in the past few years attracted to this subject with justifiable curiosity and in- terest. The reason for this is that the ptomaines, at the same time that they are such deadly poisons, are naturally devel- V. any dead tissue in about forty weight hours after death, and further, that upon andy sis they give the same reactions as do the most powerful alkaloidal vegetal poisons Since these facts became known they have been eagerly seized upon and used effectively by clever lawyers in the de- fense of their clients in murder trials both in this country and England.
 It is impossible by any known chemical processes to definitely determine these ptomaine poisons in medico-legal cases of poisoning, for instance, as they give, as before stated, the same reactions of tests as are given by the principal and most powerful vegetal alkaloids. One can readily imagine case in point that might arise at any time as a test medico-legul case of murder or suspected murder by poisoning and in which might be involved the guilt or innocense, the life or death of the accused. For if after forty-cight hours or thereabouts subsequent to death we are able to evolve from the tissues or organs of the corpse a poison that will answer to all the tests of the main vegctal alkaloids, and which has been evolved in the tissues of the natural results of de- composition, we have surely lost our cri- terion and the tests are of no avail. Con versely, it is patent to every one what
 
 work of the criminal poisoner, and the al- most certainty of his escape from justice.
 The chemical characteristics of these ptomaines so far known are that they occur generally amorphous in form and alkaline in reaction, they are unstable and volatile or easily alterable that they form crystalline salts with acids When ex- posed to the air and allowed to oxydize from the basic form they emit very dis agreeable cadaverous or putrescent odors; but in their combination with acids form ing salts their odors are generally changed resembling that of the orange, violet and musk
 Upon the exhibition of a poisonous dose generally injected under the skin the fol lowing toxic symptoms rapidly ensue: Dilation of the pupils, muscular rclaxa- tion and fiaccidity, with loss of muscular contractility and cutaneous sensibility disturbance of the hearts action, paralysis of the hinder or lower eXtremities and convulsions. They possess much the same poisonous action as muscarin and atropin. They all have strong power of reducing potash ferrocyanide and answer to the same color tests as do the vegetable aka loids, such as morphia, atropia, hyoscya- mine, aconitine digitaline, etc.
 These poisons are found under the fol- | lowing conditions:
 First.-As constituents of normal juices or tissues, they occur in human and ami nal saliva, in snake poison, which differs from human saliva only in the intensity of it's strength and action, and in normal as we'll as abnormal urine. Several of the ptomaines have been obtained from these three sources by different chemists, par ticularly Gautier of France.
 Second.-They occur in constituents of the urine of patients suffering from pro- gressive paralysis, interstitial pneumonia, abdominal typhus fever, in tetanus or lockjaw and in military fever, as proven by recent observations of Selmi.
 Third-They are developed largely in bodies or dead organic matter as a product of decomposition. These facts have been abundantly corroborated by different ob- servers.
 The symptoms of irritation of stomach and bowels, after reaching toxic charac- ter, resulting from the ingestion of bad foods and meats, sausages, stale fish, cream puffs and the like, Grc doubtless due to the generation of these poisons in | the favorable conditions for their develop ment found in the alimentary canal. The ptomaine alkaloid called tyrotoXicon, | found in stale cream puffs, which has in | a number of cases in this city caused very | AiATDnlnH SyInplOluS anu uCdlil, ID ucNcl- oped from the decomposition of tho casein of the cream or milk or butter used in making the cream puff, and these doubt less coming in their turn from swill fed | COWS.
 These Investigations have opened up n field for scientific research that cannot fail to have a marked effect upon the general health of every civilized community. It requires no great amount of perspicacity to observe that our high figure of mortal | ity, particularly among the children, in the summer months may be, and undoubt- edly is, due to the development of one or more of this series of ptomaine poisons in the prepared foods and the milk supplied to bottle fed infants, which may have come from diseased and swill fed animals; to say nothing of the thousand and one sources of similar poisoning by stale or so- | called prepared or potted meats, fish, game, cheese, sausages and the like, and l in the pastries of the character of cream puffs, etc, that endanger the life of an adult Philadelphia Times.
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